Rescuers are on their way to a loch in the far north of Scotland to help a whale thought to have become ensnared in rope.

The nine-metre (30ft) animal, believed to be a juvenile sperm whale, has become stranded in Loch Eriboll, a 10-mile-long (16km) sea loch on the north coast of Scotland, close to the village of Durness.

A disentanglement team from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) was expected to arrive at the scene on Thursday afternoon. A spokesperson for the organisation said the whale probably experienced some sort of navigational problems for it to have swum into the loch in the first place.

The animal was first spotted swimming slowly in Eriboll, one of Scotland’s deepest sea lochs, on Wednesday. Local coastguard rescue teams along with Scottish SPCA officers were monitoring the young whale.

Sperm whales. The stranded animal is believed to be a juvenile of the species. Photograph: Mike Korostelev/Rex/Shutterstock

A spokesperson for Shetland Coastguard, which is coordinating the operation, said: “The whale is less than 100 metres from the shore. It is very close to the mouth of the loch and we are concerned it will come ashore. It appears to be entangled and in distress so we would ask people to stay away from the scene so as not cause any more distress to the animal.”

The BDMLR team will assess whether the whale has become entangled in floating debris. If this is not the case, there is little more that can be done for the animal. The use of boats to herd it out of the loch and back to sea would be deemed too stressful for the whale and too dangerous for rescuers.

It is unusual for a sperm whale in particular to become trapped in this way, because the species tends to favour far deeper waters. One of the deepest diving mammals in the world, adult sperm whales can grow to up to 18.3 metres (60ft) in length.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has asked members of the public to take care along the rugged coastline if they are trying to find a vantage point to see the whale, and told people to leave the rescue effort “to the experts”.

In 2016, members of BDMLR were able to free a humpback whale from the same loch after it became tangled in creels used to catch prawns.